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Rumours surrounding the circumstances which led to the death of a Pietermaritzburg Girl’s High School (GHS) pupil on social media on Friday prompted the school to publish a statement rubbishing the “untruths”.

The school’s governing body on Friday morning released a statement on the school’s Facebook page. The statement revealed that a Grade 9 pupil, Khwezi Mbana, took ill on Thursday morning.

“Although we cannot divulge personal and medical details, we can inform you that Khwezi took ill ... with ‘gastro-like’ symptoms.

“She was treated immediately, her parents were contacted and she was given ongoing treatment over the course of the morning by our qualified school nursing sister.

“In the afternoon her condition deteriorated and tragically she passed away in the presence of her parents and paramedics,” read the statement.

The SGB said the closure of the school and its boarding establishment was a “precautionary measure”, taken under medical advice, with the approval of the Education Department.

They extended their sympathies to the teen’s family and said they will pay tribute to her next week.

“The GHS family is deeply saddened by her sudden and tragic passing.”

Many people then took to social media to tell their own version of events.

Some said the pupil died after she was allegedly told by staff to “sleep off a head injury”, while some said she had slipped while taking a shower and injured her head.

The school, in a second statement, disputed the “rumours”.

“We are deeply shocked by the untruths, rumours and insensitive comments being published on various social media platform’,” read the statement which went on to refer people back to the statement released by the SGB earlier.

The SGB thanked “the overwhelming majority of our community for their ongoing and positive support”.

“This is a deeply sad time for the bereaved family and the friends of our learner. Please respect this.”

KwaZulu-Natal Education Department spokesperson Muzi Mahlambi said the cause of Mbana’s death was still unknown but he added it was health related.

“However, there are still ongoing investigations to establish exactly what caused her death but that information will be relayed to the family and they will decide if they wish to divulge that information,” said Mahlambi.

Mahlambi said school was called off yesterday to allow the pupils and staff to deal with the trauma related to Khwezi’s death.

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